Who is Joey Tribbiani in Friends?

Show

Friends

Played by

Matt LeBlanc

First episode

“Pilot”Season 1, Episode 1, aired September 22, 1994

Role

Main cast

Network

NBC

Occupation

Actor, Dr. Drake Ramoray on Days of Our Lives

Show run

1994 to 2004

Also known as

Joseph Tribbiani, Dr. Drake Ramoray, Ken Adams

Joey Tribbiani is a working actor with big dreams, a bigger appetite, and a pickup line fans still quote. Played by Matt LeBlanc, he is lovable, simple, and kinder than he first appears, and his friendship with Chandler is the heart of the show's guys.

On Friends, Joey Tribbiani's story runs through Chandler Bing (Best Friend and Roommate), Rachel Green (Ex-girlfriend), Ross Geller (Friend), Phoebe Buffay (Friend), Monica Geller (Neighbor), and Janice (Least favorite person).

Who is Joey Tribbiani?

Joey is an actor from a big Italian American family, the only son among seven sisters. He is already Chandler's roommate across the hall from Monica when the series begins, and the two are inseparable, with Chandler often covering the rent while Joey waits for his big break.

His career swings wildly. He takes odd jobs as a cologne sampler, museum tour guide, and Central Perk waiter, appears in a few embarrassing gigs, and lands his most famous role as the handsome neurosurgeon Dr. Drake Ramoray on the real soap opera Days of Our Lives.

Personality and comedy

Joey's comedy comes from his simplicity and confidence. He takes things literally, struggles with big words, loves food so much that he refuses to share it, and greets any woman he likes with a slow, smooth pickup line.

What keeps him from being a one-note womanizer is his heart. Joey is endlessly loyal, quick to forgive, and protective of the women in his life, especially his friends. His bond with Chandler, from their matching recliners to their pet chick and duck, gives the series some of its silliest and sweetest moments.

Key storylines

Joey's big break comes in season two when he wins the role of Dr. Drake Ramoray, which brings him money, fan mail, and his own apartment. It ends just as quickly when he tells a magazine he writes his own lines, and the show's writers kill his character by dropping him down an elevator shaft. Years later Drake returns from a coma in a storyline built around a brain transplant.

In season eight Joey falls for Rachel while she is pregnant with Ross's baby, and his feelings put a strain on his friendship with Ross. Joey and Rachel finally date in season ten but realize they work better as friends. At the end of the series he is the one friend still single, which sets up his move to Los Angeles in the spinoff Joey.

Behind the scenes and legacy

Matt LeBlanc played Joey for all ten seasons of Friends and earned Emmy nominations for the role. He continued as Joey in the spinoff series Joey, which ran on NBC from 2004 to 2006 and followed the character's acting career in Los Angeles.

Joey's pickup line is one of the most widely repeated catchphrases in sitcom history and became a common greeting and flirting line far beyond the show. His other running bits, from the stuffed penguin Hugsy to his rule that nobody touches his food, remain fan favorites.

Joey Tribbiani: frequently asked questions

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